Improvement in steam-pumps



UNIT D STATES RUDOLF EIOKEMEYER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-PUMPS.

PATENT 0 FIGE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,622, dated May 6,1873; appli tion filed J anuar y 15, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUDoLF EIGKEMEYER, of Yonkers, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Steam-Pumps and Pumping-Engines and that I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and correct description thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawing and the letters ofreference thereon.

My invention relates to steam-pumps and pumpingengines, composed of twocylinders,

the one for steam, the other for water, whose two cylinders are used thepistons are formed with channels communicating with the ends of thecylinders and with the inlet and outlet ports, and when one cylinder isused the piston is formed in the same manner. The plunger has channelscommunicating with one end of the plunger barrel, and alternately withthe inlet and outlet ports of the said barrel.

These ports in the cylinders, or in the barrel of the pump-plunger, areso arranged relative to the channels in the pistons or the pumpplungerthat the rotary motion produced on the piston by the movement of thecrank will close one port and open another. The first part of myinvention relates to mechanism for giving the pistons of both steam andwater cylinders apartly rotating motion around their axis by means of ahinged crank which isattached to the fly-wheel shaft, and, by aballshaped wrist-pin, to the piston-rod, the arrangement being such thatthe pistons are turned about one-quarter of a revolution, and back againto the position from which they started during each revolution of saidhinged crank, or during each double stroke. My invention further relatesto the construction of the inlet and outlet ports of the cylinders andthe long channels in the pistons, and consists in constructingflandplacing them in sucha manner that the pressure of th team and thepressure of the water is balan (1, so that no pressure is exerted uponthe istons which would force them against the s es of the cylinders;also, in so constructin the exhaustports of the steam-cylinder an 1hedischargeport of the water-cylinder that 1 he condensed water from thefirst and the a from-the latter have a free passage, ther y dispensingwith all water and air cocks,-a d obtaining a free and smooth-runningmach e; also, in so constructing the ports in the ,ater-cylinder and thelong channels in the iston that, at each end of the stroke, the twp 1ends of said cylinder are in communicatio with the delivery or outletpipe, while th 3 suction-ports are closed, for the purpose of gi mg thepumppiston an equal pressure on b0 ends to ease the turning around ofthe inders as much as possible. 1 3

To more particularly explain y invention I refer to the accompanyingdraw I g, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective vie f of a steam orpumping engine made in accor .nce with my invention. Fig. 2 is alongitud al horizontal section of the same through the a is of thecylinders and crank-shaft. Fig. 3 is longitudinal verticalseotionthrough the ax of the cylinders. Fig. 4 is a perspective vie ofthe steam and water pistons, their connec uj ng piston-rod and wrist-pinremoved from the t 'linders. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section l"cylinder and piston of steam-cylinder. Fig. 6 a transverse verticalsection ofcylinder and p' ton of pumps. Fig. 7 is a front view of theinted crank. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of the crankshaft fiy-wheel,wrist-pin, and I rt of the piston-rod, showing the piston-r0 a t the endof its stroke. Fig. 9 is a vertical i ection of the crank-shaft,wrist-pin, and pist IJOd through the axis of the crank-shaft show i gthe pistonrod and crank in the middle of 1 he stroke of the piston. Fig.10 is a tram erse vertical section of a pump-barrel and unger, showingthe inlet and outlet ports in. he barrel and the ports. in the plunger.1 1

Letter A is the steam-cylind Letter B is the watercylinder. Within h isa piston, O and D, being connected by a iston-rod, E, which passesthrough suitable uflingboxes in the inner cylinder-heads. T constructionpis us in the cylof the two pistons is substantially the same. Annularchambers for the inlet and outlet openings are cast around eachcylinder, and two ports are put in each. The cylinder A is provided withtwo inlet-ports, a a, and two outlet-ports, b b, and the piston O isconstructed with four channels, 0 0 d cl, which will act as valves whenthe piston is operated, and will regulate the admission and exhaust ofthe steam, as may be desired. The inletports a and a are connected witheach other and the inlet-pipe F by an annular opening, Gr, shown insections Figs. 2 and 3, while the exhaust-ports b and b are connectedwith each other and with the exhaust-pipe by an annular opening, H. Boththe inlet and exhaust ports are placed exactly opposite each other forthe purpose of bringing the pressure of the steam on both sides ofthe.piston, and the exhaust-port b is placed in the lowest part of thecylinder to give a free discharge to the condense-Water. The channels 0and c are connected by holes with one end of the piston, while thechannels at and d communicate with the other end. That part of thecylinder which is in connection with the ports 0 and c, as shown in Fig.5, would receive steam through the ports a and a, while that portconnected with the channels 61 01 would exhaust its steam and condensewater through the exhaust-ports b b.

\ It will be seen that by giving the piston a rotary motion ofone-fourth of a turn the position of the channels will be such that thepart of the cylinder which, before the turning was done, received steamthrough the inletports will now exhaust its steam, and that part ofcylinder which then exhausted is now in communication with inlet-ports,and will receive steam through the pipe F.

The channels in the steam-piston are made in a curved form to correspondwith the movement of the piston, and the length and position of thesechannels regulate the admission and escape of the steam. In order to cutoff the steam at three-quarters of the stroke of the piston, it is onlynecessary to reduce those parts of the channels which act asinlet-valves to the necessary length, and the same may be done withthose parts of the channels used as exhaust-valves. when it is deemeddesirable to cushion the steam at the end of the stroke when high speedis wanted. The arrangement of the ports in the watercylinder B is thesame as in the steam-cylinder. The inlet-ports f f are placed horizontaland the outlet-ports kit vertical, for the purpose of passing the airout at the highest point of the cylinder.

To obtain the largest possible openings I have made the ports nearlyone-eighth of the circumference of the water-cylinder, and haveconstructed the channels it h i '5 also almost the width of one-eighthof the circumference of the piston.

In Fig. 6 the water-cylinder is shown with obvious that the crank-shaft0 would have a the piston inside at the end of its stroke. It

will be seenthat the inlet-ports f f are closed, while the outlet-port kis in communication with both channels, t and h, and k is incommunication withi and h. Turning the piston to the right theconnection between 70 k and h h is closed first, and then It and h willpass over the inlet-ports f and f, and thus fill that end of thecylinder with which they communicate, while the other end will dischargeits contents through the channels t" i and the ports 70 and It.Constructing the ports and channels in this manner no compression of thewater at the end of the stroke can take place, and an easy reversal ofthe machine is insured.

To compel the pistons to make the desired motion, and to enable me totransfer a part or all the power developed by the steam-cylinder eitherupon the pump-piston or the bandwheel, and also to enable me by the useof a fiy-wheel to cut off the steam at a part of the stroke, and use theexpansion through the re- 'maining portions of the stroke, I haveconstructed a jointed crank, shown in Fig. 2, but more distinctly seenin Figs. 7, 8, and 9. The crank is composed of a bearing formed atright-angles with the axis of .the shaft, and

the center of this hearing is one-fourth of the stroke from said axis.In this bearing the piece L is hinged in such a manner that it can swingfrom a position at right-anglesto the axis of the crank-shaft toward thepiston-rod from thirty to forty-five degrees, as occasion may require.The piece L and caps a form the socket or bearing for the ball-shapedend of the wrist-pin R. The distance from the center of this ball to thejointis also one-fourth of the whole stroke. n and 'n. are straps whichform one-half of the bearin gs of the cylindrical ends of piece L, andsmall set-screws 0 o are used to tighten the straps on the cylindricalpart of L, and the bolt 19 prevents any movement of L lengthwise in itsbearings. The distance from the center of the ball-shaped end of thewrist-pin to the center of the piston-rod,-as shown in the drawing,gives the pistons in the two cylinders one-fourth of a turn. When alonger wrist-pin is used the turning of the pistons would be less, whilea shorter wristpin would make it more.

When a greater part of the power is to be used from the crank-shaft itmay be advantageous to use a short wrist-pin, so as to bring the strainas near in line with the piston-rod as possible.

Referring to Figs. 8 and 9 it will be seen that the joint in the crankwill allow the bearing to follow the wrist-pin through its stroke. InFig. 8 the crank, wrist-pimpiston-rod, and fly-wheel are shown insection at the end of the stroke, and in Fig. 9 the crank, wrist-pin,and piston-rod are shown in a vertical section through the axis of thefly-wheel shaft at the middle of the stroke. The dotted lines show theangle of oscillation of the wrist-pin during one double stroke, which isninety degrees.

From the action of the jointed piece L it is tendency to follow thewrist-pin, and make a motion lengthwise to the center of its axis. Toprevent this and to produce a means to take up any wear that may becaused by this tendency between the flywheel and the bearing, I haveformed a screw-thread upon the end of the shaft, and fitted two jamnutson this thread, by means of which the fly-wheel, which serves as acollar,and is fitted upon a stationary key, may be set up close to thebearing when required. To take up the wear on the wrist-pin it is onlynecessary to tighten the screws which. hold the cap.

The operation of the devices described is obvious, and needs no detaileddescription.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the pistons are represented as having completed theirstroke in one direction. The momentum of the fly-wheel would nowcontinue to turn the pistons, and thereby bring two of the channels inthe steam-piston in communication with the inlet-ports, and the twoothers with the exhaust, thus causing a return motionof thesteam-piston. The motion of the steam piston being transmitted by thepiston-rod to the water-piston, the ports and channels being in theproper position, the one end of the water-cylinder will discharge itscontents through the outlet-port, while the other end is filled throughthe inlet port. By the reciprocations of the steam-piston a steady fiowof water is thus maintained.

When most of the power developed by the engine is to be used from theband-whee], and only a small part for pumping, I construct thepiston-rod on its outer end with channels operating in a pump-barrel.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section through the barrel and plunger, andexplains itself.

Instead of four channels in the pistons, when the pump is double-acting,I use here two only, the inlet and outlet ports remaining as before.

The construction of the ports in pairs, opposite each other, has enabledme to prevent all friction and wear on the pistons, and the jointedcrank furnishes a solid and durable connection between the moving parts.The construction of the crank and wrist-pin may, of course, be varied.

rod. 1

When a greater part of the p ver is to be used on the band-wheel it maya 10 be desirable to place the hinge of the hi ed piece in the center ofthe crank-shaft, or ven on the opposite side of the crank-cente butthese modifications are only such as wo d be adapted for certainpurposes, and W0 d not alter the character of my improvemen Having thusdescribed my in jention, and being aware that long channeled istonshaving a partly-rotary motion to en le them to act as valves are notnew, I do ot broadly claim these pistons, but without c nfining myselfto the combination of two i linders, or one cylinder and one plunger, whtI claim as my invention, and desire to secu v by Letters Patent, is ii 1. The combination of the ste cylinder, channeled piston, piston -rod,a d wrist-pin with a hinged crank, substantial as and for the purposedescribed. I

2. The channeled pistons in f with the opposite cylinders, a h operatinga wrist-pin attached a he pistonrod, and the two channeled pisto s,substantially as and for the purpose desc 'bed.

3. The two inlet-ports opposite and the two outlet-ports opposit achother, in combination with the channel piston, as and for the purposespecified. l 1

4. The channeled pistons when 0 arranged relatively to the inlet andoutlet orts in the cylinder that the same channels 1 act alternately asoutlet and inlet passage as and for the purpose specified.

5. The hinged crank in combi ation with the adjustable fiy-wheel,pistond and its wrist-pin, as and for the purpose a scribed.

Witnesses:

PHILIPP ORAMER, J OSIAH F. HARVEY.

